Commuters across Ludhiana continued to grapple with long waits and overcrowded buses on Friday as over 50% of Punjab Roadways and Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) buses remained off the roads amid a protest by outsourced transport workers outside the Punjab Vidhan Sabha in Chandigarh. With only half of the fleet operational, passengers dependent on affordable public transport faced difficulties in daily commute.
Permanent and contractual employees, however, reported for duty, enabling the two state-run transport undertakings to maintain partial services despite the absence of outsourced staff. “The employees are divided into three categories — permanent, contractual and outsourced — and that the outsourced workers have joined the protest, while the other two categories have reported for duty. The disruption has compounded commuters’ difficulties, particularly those who rely on government buses for their daily travel.
Around 400 outsourced employees from Ludhiana joined nearly 6,000 transport workers who gathered in Chandigarh on the opening day of the assembly session to press their demands. Punjab Roadways general manager Nawraj Batish said nearly 50% of the buses were operational and the department was striving to maintain services with the available workforce.
Poonam said the limited availability of government buses had left passengers with little choice but to spend more on private transport or endure lengthy waits. Another commuter, Mohinder Kaur, said overcrowding in buses have added to passengers’ woes. We are trying to manage the services as much as possible with the available staff,” Batish said.
